Goodbye, 2025!
Encaustic, India ink, and wet cyanotype on Arches printmaking paper
Although it is hard for me to wrap my brain around, 2025 is just about over! It’s been a very busy year, with much to be grateful for, and many things to look forward to in 2026. My current exhibit, Advent: Now & the Not-Yet is winding down at the Franciscan Center in Tampa, and there are multiple upcoming group NAWAFL (National Association of Women Artists, Florida Chapter) exhibits in which I will be participating. The first show of the new year, Journey Through My Imagination, opens January 16th at the Morean Art Center in St. Pete, and runs through March 26th. If you’re in the area, come by and say hi at the reception, on 1/16 from 5p to 8p!
Here are this month’s experiments and projects I’ve been working on:
Wet Cyanotype! I’ve been having so much fun playing around with materials and substrates to see what kinds of effects I can get, and then incorporating the pieces with wax and other mixed media to see what fun things emerge. I’m still working through to find that careful balance of adding the wax to enhance the cyanotype, and not obliterate the beautiful patterns and images on the photographs. I’ve talked to a few of my artist friends about it, and we all decided that we need to have a cyanotype printing party in the new year. I’ve only tried the wet cyanotype so far, but its super fun and I would definitely recommend playing around with it if you’re curious!
Encaustic color theory project: This is an ongoing project that is taking me much longer than I anticipated, but I think it’s worthwhile to take my time on so I can really understand the process. I have been reading an incredible book on color theory, Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie. Her big takeaway is to try to use only transparent, single pigment paints in your work as much as possible. If you’re interested in understanding the properties of color and light and creating vibrating color combinations, I highly recommend it! The book focuses on watercolor paints, but it can be adapted to any medium. I've scribbled many notes in my book, changing the specific watercolor paints she mentions to encaustic paints. My big project is to create a master color chart with the recommended encaustic paints so I don’t have to constantly translate from watercolor to encaustic.
Happy end of 2025 Everyone!
Gina